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People who are intellectually disabled yearn to live among the wider community. But in order to do so they must face intolerance, prejudice and fear.

Speaking at Plimmerton Rotary on 30 August, Kathy Gibson, Chair of Special Olympics NZ, spoke passionately and fluently about the significant progress that is being made to integrate intellectually handicapped people into society generally. “We are doing this by promoting the idea of sport for the intellectually disabled, because we know that this enables them to express themselves, have fun, become more independent, and improve their health and wellbeing.”

Special Olympics NZ has over 9000 members from 40 clubs participating in 14 different sports. “Through sport our members develop friendships, gain self-respect, and learn the benefit of personal achievement. We run over 200 events in NZ every year. Our membership is growing by about 8% per year. Our athletes range in age from 5 through to 86. The older ones like to play bowls and they are amazingly competitive.”

Intellectual disability had a number of causes ranging from down-syndrome and autism to brain injuries, learning disorders, and issues caused by parents abusing drugs and alcohol. Special Olympics NZ caters for all comers. “A new group which is emerging is what we call ‘families in denial’, where a family member is intellectually handicapped but the family is doing nothing about it.”

Auckland presented a new challenge for SONZ in that the ethnic mix was rapidly changing. “We need to engage with people from different cultures, for example Chinese and Indian, who have different ways of dealing with intellectual disability, and find ways to help them that are acceptable within their own culture.”

Also speaking at the meeting was Vicki Brown, who is intellectually disabled and has been a member of SONZ for 30 years. She proudly displayed gold and silver medals she had won through competing at Special Olympic events overseas. “I have made many wonderful friends and it is always a real thrill to represent New Zealand at these events.” Vicki is an example of someone who has integrated into mainstream society. She owns her own home and is self-supporting.

To ensure their sporting competitions were as fair as possible, Kathy explained that Special Olympics organisations around the world divided each sport into several divisions, so that athletes of similar ability could play against each other within their own division. “That way, every athlete has the chance to excel in a competition among people of their own ability. In fact, sometimes our athletes compete against mainstream athletes of similar ability, and they do very well in that environment.”

SONZ plans to run a major event next year, the National Summer Games which will be held over 5 days in and around the Hutt Valley during the last week of November 2017.

Special Olympics NZ is funded by a mix of Government grants, corporate sponsorship, and donations. To find out more please visit www.specialolympics.org.nz 

Snippets

Come to the movies with Inner Wheel
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Te Ara Piko Working Bee
This will be on Saturday September 24th from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. More details will follow closer to the time but you can put your name on the board that's being circulated at the next few meetings.

Virtuoso Strings Charitable Trust
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Special People

 
 
 
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